UNIT 57 PHOTOGRAPHY- Texture/colour/shape

Using Texture, Colour and Shape are basic ways to enhance a photograph

Texture

• Everything has a surface so everything has a texture
• Some are course, some are fine
• Texture can be seen by looking at something carefully
• Taking pictures of textures can produce fascinating pictures
• Texture can also be added within photoshop. This will be done using texturizers

Colour

• One of the easiest ways to add impact to a picture is to improve use of colour
• Saturation is one way to play with colour as is contrast
• The three primary colours- red, blue and green- are very powerful and add energy and impact to an image
• Red is the strongest and can dominate an image
• For best results with colour, shoot in strong, bright light

Shape

• Helps with composition
• Shapes can be real or made up
• A roof might be triangular
• Use shapes in area you are in

UNIT 57 PHOTOGRAPHY- Introduction to Aperture

What is Aperture?

• The size of the opening in the lens when the picture is taken
• When you hit the shutter release button of your camera a hole opens that allows the cameras image censor to catch a glimpse of the scene you're wanting to capture
• The aperture that you set impacts the size of that whole. The larger the hole, the more light that gets in and vice versa with a smaller hole
• The word Aperture simply means "An opening"
• In the case of photography the aperture is created by an adjustable iris that can be opened or closed to control how much light enters the camera
• The iris is made of a series of thin metal blades that move together to roughly create a circular opening

How is aperture measured?

• Aperture is measured in f-stops
• They are referred to as n f/number for example f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/22 etc
• Moving from one f-stop to the next doubles or halves the size of the amount of opening in the lens and the amount of light getting through
• Large apertures where lots of light gets through have smaller f numbers
• Small apertures when little light gets through have bigger f numbers

Depth of field and aperture

• Depth of Field (DOF)- The amount of shot that will be in focus
• Large DOF- Means that most the image will be in focus whether it's close to the camera or far away
• Small DOF- means that only part of the image is in focus and the rest is fuzzy
• Aperture has a big impact on depth of field. Large aperture will decrease the depth of field, small aperture will give you larger depth of field.
• Small numbers= Small DOF
• Large numbers= Large DOF

Some styles of photography require large depths of field (and small aperture)

• Most landscape photography will have small aperture settings (large numbers) 
• This ensures that from the foreground to the horizon is relatively in focus
• On the other hand in portrait photography it can be very handy to have your subject perfectly in focus but the background blurred to ensure the subject is the main focal point and that other elements are not distracting
• Macros photography tend to use larger apertures to ensure that the element of their subject that they are focusing on totally captures the attention of the viewer of their images while the rest of the image is thrown out of focus.

Large Aperture

• Large apertures produce shallow depth of field- f2.8 and f5.6 will do this
• Basically this means the area of sharp focus in the picture will be small
• This can be useful when you want to isolate the subject matter of your picture while throwing the background and other distracting elements out of focus
• Wide apertures are good for portraits and close ups

Small Apertures

• f16 to f32 increase the depth of field meaning more elements of a picture from the foreground to the background become sharply focused
• This can create a distinct sense of depth to a photograph. Small apertures are a must for most landscape photographs

Unit 51 Magazines and Double Page Spreads- My Page Layout

UNIT 57 PHOTOGRAPHY- Fine Art Photography

Introduction to this task
This task required me to delve into fine art photography by finding out what it specifically is and in a way learn myself how to take fine art photographs. By looking into this task I would have to look at specific examples of fine art photography pieces as well as who the key artists were that use this method of photography. This would be useful when taking my own photographs in order to imitate their work when it comes to my own.

What is fine art photography?

• Fine art photography is about an idea, a message or an emotion
• Through their work, the artist is trying to convey something to the viewer of the photograph
• Fine art is supposed to make artists think about the certain matters or messages consciously
• The photographer should usually have a vision of what they think their work will look like so that they will be able to convey these messages
• The choices the photographer makes with their photo to convey the messages will be clearly visible to the viewer and therefore the methods will be consistent with this photograph and with their work in general. 
• The choices that the photographer would make would not only be the different elements within the photograph itself but also choosing a specific frame/shot among several. 
• The appearance of the photograph is also key and will depend on the keying of the photograph, the saturation, the brightness and the filters used.

Examples of Fine Art Photography

Key Photographers

William Eggleston

Eggleston is largely credited with bringing about colour photography with the dye transfer process as a fine art form. This is printed images rather film. His colour photographs were on show at the museum of modern art and this was ground-breaking for photography. His artwork not only had colour but also had an observational style. His photographs showed everyday subject matter such as cars, hotel rooms and stores. His early works subject matter was the American South where he is from. His pictures had no political or social messages.

Eggleston was born in July 1939 into wealth and grew up on his family's former cotton plantation in the Mississippi Delta. He began to take photographs after a friend noticed his artistic side as well as his fascination with mechanics which encouraged him to buy a camera. Whilst at University Eggleston studied the style and compositions that photographers such as Walker Evans and Henri Cartier-Bresson who influenced his earliest work which he produced in black and white.

Walker Evans Example

Henri Cartier-Bresson Example

Eggleston began to experiment with colour photography itself in 1964 because of its association with amateur and commercial work but this had rarely been seen/appreciated as fine art. He decided to use this as an oppertunity and set out to capture images that showcased his surroundings which were devoid of negative messages. Over the next decade he produced thousands of photographs which focused on Americans, landscapes, structures and over environments. In 1974 Eggleston had a solo exhibition at New York City's museum of modern art. He was praised by a lot of people for his high saturation hues within his images which made every day objects or settings seem artistic.

What did I learn?

• Fine art photography takes the ordinary and the mundane and turns it into something that is artistic and interesting
• Through fine art photography the artist is always trying to covey a message of some sort even through something that might be plain and ordinary
• I also learnt about William Eggleston and how he got into photography as well as who his inspirations were
• I found it difficult to find key photographers due to the fact that there were so many and it was hard to choose a specific one who stood out. I chose Eggleston because he was essentially one of the first
• I liked the picture of the man inside the box in water because the message I get from it is about feeling isolated and trapped. The man in the box is a pale white colour and he stands out from everything else to show that really this is about him despite the scenic surroundings.

How will this help me in the future?

I will be able to apply the techniques that I have learnt by doing this research to my own work and it will also get me thinking/planning out my pictures on a deeper level. As well as this by looking at the different examples of photographs it gives me an idea of the types of photos I should be taking as well as something that I might be able to imitate/recreate when it comes to taking my own photographs.

UNIT 57 PHOTOGRAPHY- What do I need to do for my assignment?

Choose 3 areas of the following to research and produce a detailed report of how imagery is communicated:

• Documentary
• Fine Art
• Advertising
• Photojournalsim

UNIT 51 MAGAZINES- Content Checklist, Tracked Changes and Edited Page Layout for an article

Tracked changes

Content Checklist

Page Layout Comments

UNIT 57 PHOTOGRAPHY- My Portrait examples

Introduction

During this task I had to use a model as well as a backdrop/surroundings in order to take some portrait photographs from three different distances. I was asked to take three long, medium and close up shots of my model from different angles and then put them into photoshop using black and white effects and putting red, blue and green filters on these and then a selective colour filter on another picture. 

What I initially like about the setting of where I decided to take the photographs was the way that the red, tinted windows stood out and that they almost have outlines around them already because of how they are built. Although the subject is the model at the centre the eye is almost drawn to the windows because of this. At the same time the colour of the trousers and the shirt that the model was wearing contrast the backdrop. His top is grey where the wall below is grey, on the flip side of that his trousers are red-ish whereas the windows above are red.

The blue filter on this image makes the scene a lot more depressing than it actually was despite the fact that the images were taken on a sunny day. The blue filter makes it hard to tell that there was any sunlight overhead and it makes the setting seem dark and overcast.

Using a selective colour effect I decided to make the model and the bottom part of the image black and white but left the rest of the image still in colour. The parts that are black and white contrast with the areas in colour especially because of how red the windows are. The black and white model almost looks out of place within this image and looks as if he should be in a different photo completely. In my opinion this image sort of shows how photography has evolved from it all being in black and white to now having colour photography instantly available.

What did I learn?

• I got an idea of how to take simple portrait photos
• I learnt how to use photoshop in order to enhance a photograph and make certain features stand out compared to others
• I also learnt the importance of taking pictures at different distances and angles
• One challenge I faced was making sure I had the correct equipment and forgot something that was essential to taking pictures (The SD Card)
• I also had to find an appropriate area to take the pictures due to the fact that it was an incredibly sunny day and therefore had to find somewhere that the light did not effect the pictures too much

How will this help me in the future?

• I now have experience using photoshop in order to enhance my images
• I have an idea of how to take portrait photos which will help me in the future with any portraiture that I have to make
• I will be able to take a variety of different photos in order broaden the quality of images that I take